CVE-2015-7869

What it actually does

Multiple integer overflows in the NVIDIA GPU kernel-mode driver trigger uninitialized or out-of-bounds memory accesses, enabling local memory corruption that can disclose sensitive kernel data, crash the system, or escalate privileges.

Why it matters to the business

Local attackers on affected systems can steal data, cause graphics-related outages, or obtain elevated access, leading to operational disruption and potential lateral movement; the issue is long-public and unpatched systems remain exposed but prevalence has declined sharply with driver turnover.

How an attack unfolds

A local attacker with user-level access loads or invokes the vulnerable NVIDIA kernel driver, supplies crafted parameters that overflow integer calculations, and reaches uninitialized or out-of-bounds memory regions to read kernel data, induce a crash, or corrupt structures for privilege escalation.

How to fix it

Upgrade NVIDIA GPU drivers to versions at or above R340 341.92 / 340.96, R352 354.35 / 352.63, or R358 358.87 / 358.16 (Windows/Linux respectively) or later vendor releases; remove or disable the driver on systems that do not require GPU acceleration.

How to confirm the fix worked

Inspect the installed NVIDIA driver version string against the vulnerable ranges listed in the advisory; confirm the driver binary no longer contains the affected integer-handling paths via vendor release notes or binary diffing.

Typical attack path

1. Obtain local user access on a system using an affected NVIDIA driver version
2. Interact with the GPU driver via graphics API or direct device I/O
3. Supply input that triggers integer overflow in kernel-mode processing
4. Leverage resulting memory corruption for information disclosure, denial of service, or privilege escalation

How to detect it

Review system and driver logs for unexpected NVIDIA kernel crashes or access violations around graphics API calls; correlate with local user activity that invokes GPU functions on legacy driver versions.

What your security team should do

• Inventory all systems with NVIDIA GPUs and identify those still running pre-2015 driver branches
• Prioritize driver updates on multi-user or high-value hosts first
• Disable GPU acceleration where it is not required to reduce attack surface
• Monitor vendor driver release channels for any back-port fixes to legacy branches still in use